More on Trump’s nominees

More on Trump’s nominees

Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be FBI director. There is only one minor problem, the FBI already has a director, Christopher Wray, whose 10 year term doesn’t end for another three years. Thus, Wray has to resign or Trump will try to fire him. Since the FBI director is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate to a fixed term, there is a legal question as to whether the director can be removed by the president or must be impeached by the Senate. The answer is maybe. Trump during his first term did fire James Comey who left without resistance. Wray, who ironically was nominated by Trump to replace Comey, has not indicated whether he will step down. If he doesn’t Trump will try to fire him. If Wray resists, expect a lawsuit. But having an FBI director who is in open conflict with a president would be unprecedented.

An 1876 law stated that certain postmasters appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate could only be removed with the advice and consent of the Senate. In 1925, Woodrow Wilson fired a postmaster (Frank Myers) without Senate approval. The Supreme Court ruled that the president did have the authority to remove the official. It will be interesting to see if Wray leaves quietly or contests the Court’s 1926 decision. What happens obviously has implications for Jay Powell at the Fed who ironically was also initially appointed by Trump. BTW, don’t be surprised if Trump once more nominates Judy Shelton to the Fed, maybe even as chairman. Shelton is the type of expert that Trump likes to appoint. One that knows the agency and is critical of how it conducts its function. She is unlikely to toe the company line and would be great at the Fed. Maybe this time her nomination will get out of committee.

Surprise! Surprise! The greenies do not like Doug Burgum for secretary of the interior. Climate Power, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Wilderness Society (whose new CEO will be Biden’s Bureau of Land Management director) are all against the nomination. Not coincidentally, all three groups are funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss. Trump and presumably Burgum will reverse Biden’s policies of closing federal lands to energy and mineral development, shutting down pipelines, blocking drilling and the exporting of natural gas. Wyss has put hundreds of millions of dollars into the liberal dark money network to meddle in issues in the United States. A statement from Wyss’ foundation says in part that it is “proud to fund numerous conservation organizations and their efforts to protect access to public land, preserve wildlife, and conserve 30 percent of the planet in a natural state by the year 2030.” Hum. I guess the sanctimonious democrats do not bemoan this dark money network funded by a foreign billionaire meddling in US affairs.

Why is the left against Burgum? He is a climate skeptic! Gasp!

Linda McMahan is criticized as not being qualified to be secretary of education But she is. She has been active in education issues in Connecticut having served on the state’s board of education. Her foundation has contributed significantly to education causes. I would have preferred Betsy DeVos. McMahan was given high marks in her management of the Small Business Administration (which hopefully will be on the chopping block of the DOGE). I think the opposition to McMahan is because the left are snobs and look down their noses at the WWE.

Let’s see. The left seems to be opposed to all the Trump nominees. I would have thought there would have been some praise on the diversity of the nominees. Treasury secretary nominee Bessent is gay. Patel is Indian-American. Tulsi Gabbard is Samoan. Scott Turner is black. Marco Rubio is Cuban-American. Mehmet Oz is Turkish. Janette Nisheiwat parents are Jordanian immigrants. Jay Bhattacharya is Indian. Then there are the eight women nominated to cabinet level positions including Kristi Noem, Susie Wiles and Pam Bondi. But no. The left will be critical no matter what. It whines that Trump has few blacks in his cabinet. The only nominee that seems to not draw criticism is Lori Chavez-DeRemer Trump’s pick for Labor Secretary. She is a friend of big labor. Her only opposition will be from the right and it will be half hearted. So the bottom line is that you can be a gay, female black Indian-American with Jordanian, Samoan and Turkish ancestry and the left still won’t like you if you are a Republican.